Buyer's Guide

A Step-by-Step First Time Buyer's Guide

Buying a home is one of the most exciting milestones of your life. To prepare yourself for this moment, you need to know what to expect during the process. This step-by-step first time buyer’s guide created by our team will help reduce the stress of buying a home and help you enjoy the journey as much as possible.

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Step 1: Research

Do you already know where you want to buy? If you want a condo, townhome, or single-family home? Which features do you like and dislike? What’s available on the market now? If you answered no to any of these questions, now is the time to start researching. In addition to looking for homes that interest you, also take note of any changes in asking prices. This could give you valuable insight into housing trends in specific neighborhoods and help you when the time comes to make an offer.

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Step 2: Decide on Your Budget

Notice we said to decide on your budget—not determine how much the mortgage company will give you. In many cases, a mortgage company will pre-approve you for more than you’re comfortable spending, which is why you need to determine the monthly payment you feel comfortable with before talking to a lender. This likely includes doing a full household budget and taking into consideration what changes other than a mortgage payment will occur once you move into your new home. If you’ve lived in an apartment or with roommates, you may overlook new expenses like garbage, water, or HOA fees that could easily blow your budget.

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Step 3: Get Prequalified

Just because you think you can afford a certain payment every month doesn’t mean the mortgage company will agree. Just as they may approve you for too large of an amount, they may also approve you for a lesser amount or deny you a mortgage altogether. Lack of time at a job, insufficient credit, past bankruptcies, or other financial issues can cause major problems when trying to secure a mortgage. Before you get your heart set on a home, talk to a mortgage professional to find out what amount you can qualify for. This will also be an advantage when you make an offer on a home, as some sellers won’t entertain offers from those who aren’t already prequalified for a loan.

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Step 4: Choose a Real Estate Agent

Can you shop for, look at, and ultimately make an offer on a home without a real estate agent? Technically yes, but why would you when it costs you nothing for agents like us to take much of the stress off your shoulders? Not only will we help identify properties you might be interested in, arrange showings, and ultimately handle the offer process, but we also have a knowledge of the market that you don’t possess. Finding the perfect home can be a daunting task, this is where our expertise and wealth of knowledge come into play. Let us show you around some homes that meet your dream home criteria so you can find the one that's right for you.

Our goal is to provide you with the most personalized service that is designed to help you buy your dream home

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Step 5: Find the Right Home

This should be the most enjoyable step of the entire process (other than moving in!). We will arrange showings of homes you’re interested in that are within your price range. Take notes about what you like and don’t like, and make sure to pay attention to details. Turn light switches on and off, open and close doors, and run the faucets in various rooms. Don’t limit your inspection to the home itself. Make sure to take time to explore the neighborhood and keep an eye on traffic at certain times of the day, the parking situation, and how close it is to necessities like schools and grocery stores.

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Step 6: Make an Offer

Once you have selected the perfect home, work with your agent to craft a fair offer based on the value of comparable homes on the market. Depending on what the home is listed at and whether the current environment is a buyer’s or seller’s market, your offer may be below, at, or even above the asking price. We will be able to help you negotiate if you receive a counteroffer and reach an agreement. At this point, the house will go into escrow.

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Step 7: Have the Home Inspected

In most cases, your offer will be contingent on having the home inspected to ensure there is no major structural damage or large repairs needed. We can help you arrange this, and you can schedule it within days of making an offer. If there are no major issues, the process goes to step eight. If there is, you can renegotiate your offer based on what needs to be fixed, or you can withdraw it.

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Step 8: Select Your Loan

Now is the time to go back to the mortgage lender who pre-approved or pre-qualified you and choose your mortgage. You will be presented with various options based on your unique financial situation, including fixed-rate, variable-rate, 15-year, 30-year, or special programs such as VA loans or FHA loans. Work with your mortgage lender to select the option you feel the most comfortable with.

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Step 9: Get a Home Appraisal

Your lender will have your new home appraised so they have their independent value of it. The appraisal is to ensure that all parties involved are paying a fair price for the house.

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Step 10: Finish Paperwork

No one looks forward to all the paperwork involved in buying a home, but it’s a necessary part of the process. Fortunately, everything will be arranged by your lender and title company and, when you’re finished, you’ll know you are the legal owner of your new home.

Congratulations!

After signing the final paperwork to complete the purchase, you are now the owner of a new house. It may take a few days for your loan to be funded once the paperwork has been returned to the lender, but once that check is delivered to the seller, you’ll be all set to move into the home of your dreams.

Stephen
Savannah
Lawrence D.
Buyer
Pamela E.
Mario M.
WHAT OUR CLIENTS SAY
Bee Gee Johnson is an incredible person. If you are looking for help selling or buying any kind of property( homes to farms), you need Bee Gee. She has helped me and my family with purchasing and selling of properties. She stays on top of everything. She most definitely will go to the extreme to protect your rights. I will have her to continue helping me and my family to buy or sell more properties.

— Stephen

WHAT OUR CLIENTS SAY
Bee Gee has been a respected and trusted family friend for nearly 30 years. I've witnessed her consistent character in many different situations, so when my husband and I needed to purchase our first home in 2018, she was the only realtor we sought out. She coached us patiently throughout the entire process. Her calm demeanor, depth of real estate knowledge, breadth of connections, and quick responses re...

— Savannah

WHAT OUR CLIENTS SAY
Bottom line, you want to find or sell a property as soon as possible to fit your requirements and need someone who can be your right hand in your real estate needs. Ms. Caldera is an excellent, well-informed, highly experienced Realtor® for the Central Texas region. She is current in real estate business requirements, and seasoned in the various tools available for property acquisition or sale in Texas r...

— Lawrence D.

WHAT OUR CLIENTS SAY
We highly recommend Laurie, she came recommended to us by people at my wife's hiring company. Sometimes Austin professionals, unlike other areas of the country, are a little more social-network happy than maybe they should be, so we checked to see if she had a crazy posting volume on Facebook or Twitter. She didn't, so we felt like she'd spend extra time on us rather than her social network presence. Boy...

— Buyer

WHAT OUR CLIENTS SAY
I would recommend Nancy for your real estate needs. She put my Aunts house on the market and some large problems arose. Several times I was in panic mode but Nancy stayed calm, made recommendations and provided phone numbers, and was always available. She was always fast to text back or call. I knew she was working hard for this sale, just like all of her clients. She will not quit, or push you aside unt...

— Pamela E.

WHAT OUR CLIENTS SAY
Laurie assisted us in finding a home quickly, as the market was moving extremely fast. Coming from San Antonio, she kept us up to speed with emails, text messages, phone calls, and everything else that was necessary for us to obtain a home. She understood exactly what we needed and provided valuable guidance and tips to ensure a successful bid was accepted. Laurie kept in touch with us after helping us f...

— Mario M.

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CAVALIER REAL ESTATE GROUP

(512) 656-5787

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7000 N. Mopac Expy., Suite 200
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